I like twitter. I use it for both business and personal purposes. I know, you’re shaking your head right now and wondering how I have time to fool around on twitter.

If you are interested in a great twitter tutorial… check out Charlene Kingston’s free eBook, Twitter for Beginners. You do need to register to get it but I promise you won’t get ANY spam from her and you’ll have a great resource.

I wish I could show you right now the power of real time search. If you follow smart people, leaders in your field, you can learn a great deal in a short period of time. I use it to search for relevant information for my clients. I also search for articles that I think would be relevant to my connections, then I add my 2 cents and post the link to Linked In.

This article helps you to learn how to target your tweets to people by occupation (e.g. attorneys) and location (e.g. city). You can provide customer service or listen to what people are saying about you or your competition. In just a few minutes a day, you can keep up with real time information about your industry.

Just remember that marketing today isn’t about telling the world how great you are… it’s about adding value. Just because you can easily find a target audience on twitter doesn’t mean you should spam them! (definition of spam: I don’t want it and I didn’t ask for it).

I realize it’s popular to say (and think) twitter is stupid.. and it’s certainly your choice to stop reading this or think twitter is dumb. But it’s the business that is most adaptable to that often wins. Are you adapting?

2 Comments

Deborah,
I first came across “Twitter” in about 2007 or 2008. I was a regular contributor to LiveJournal at that time and did not see the value of Twitter. Later I heard on NPR or somewhere how the concept worked. It is basically in “old school” terms a recommended reading list for internet articles and not an end into itself. The 140 character limit is simply an invitation to say something concisely and compellingly that would nudge the reader. As a pastor, I want to add value of my church to the community. Not many the residents here do not leverage social media in their job searches. Consequently, motivated by your blog, I am in the process of having our church provide some forum to remedy this problem. If your LinkedIn information can help me please invite me to join your network. I am talking with community leaders and potential clients about this matter. Thank you for being a muse. You are helping people in other places besides Rochester.